Michael Kownacky

We’re showcasing another relatively forgotten opera on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/2 7:00 p.m.) but one that was incredibly popular when it premiered in 1900. About the only thing that’s remembered about Gustav Charpentier’s “Louise” is one aria for the title character titled “Depuis le jour” that appears on many operatic collections and concerts. This production comes from the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

We did our best to catalogue musicals that opened in New York for which some sort of recordings are available. November’s list has over 200 openings, and on this week’s Dress Circle (11/2 7:00 p.m.), we’re going to be sampling selections from a dozen of those shows spanning 131 years of Broadway history.

Halloween is looming on the horizon, and we hope you’ll join us on Friday for some devilishly good music for the season. Join Michael Kownacky from 4 – 6 p.m. for a playlist that’ll hopefully help you get ready for the evening ahead. Our evening of seasonal music includes pieces about devils, witches, and a few ghosts thrown in for good measure.

We’re off to the Salzburg Festival for this week’s Sunday Opera (10/26 3:00 p.m.) and their presentation of George Frideric Handel’s “Giulio Cesare in Egitto” which was originally staged by London’s Royal Academy of Music in 1724.

It’s Ted’s Turn.As promised, we’re looking at some of Ted’s favorites on this week’s Dress Circle (10/26 7:00 p.m.) that will include three songs from his favorite musical (He actually as one of those.), Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies.”

It’s a comic battle of the sexes on this week’s Sunday Opera (6/21 3:00 p.m.) with a bit of fiancée swapping from the minds of Lorenzo Da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte, ossia la scuola degli amanti” which translates with some care to “Women Are Like That or The School for Lovers”

We’re turning to the first of two programs on this week’s Dress Circle (10/19 7:00 p.m.) that will feature some of our favorite songs from stage and screen musicals and soundtracks. Michael is up first, and he’s chosen 13 vastly different songs that really do express his rather eclectic tastes, and by no means is this even the tip of the iceberg of the list of his “favorites.”

The tragic tale of a headstrong child and an overprotective father who angers the wrong people is the subject of this week’s Sunday Opera (10/12 3:00 p.m.) in the LA Opera’s production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto" starring Quinn Kelsey in the title role.

Although it doesn't happen as much as it once did, hit songs from the musicals do occasionally make the Billboard charts, and we'll be looking at a least a dozen of them on this week's Dress Circle (10/12 7:00 p.m.). We're including three number one hits in Louis Armstrong's version of "Hello, Dolly!", The 5th Dimension's version of "Aquarius / Let the Sun Shine In" from "Hair," and "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from "Encanto."

It’s an afternoon of the music of Gabriel Faure on this week’s Sunday Opera (10/5 3:00 p.m.) as we return to the Bavarian State Opera for “Penelope” and follow that with three of his instrumental works to round out the afternoon.